Saturday, December 24, 2005

"How could this happen?" he asked. "Can you believe this? I told them more than a week ago that it looked like another team was getting close. It didn’t matter. They didn’t believe me."

On his conversation with Terry Francona:

"He was choked up about it. He said, 'I used to know who I was going to pencil in every day. I don't have that one player who can go out night in and night out.' He's going to miss that. It means a lot when a manager calls you up and says he doesn't know what he's going to do."

On the state of Red Sox Nation:

"That team is dismantling. I'm sure it's going to be crushing because I meant a lot to those fans."

Asked if he had been influenced by the Red Sox front-office shuffling and the player exodus:

"It's something I definitely thought about, but what really opened my eyes was their first initial offer a month after the season."

"When he got Boston’s first offer, he knew then there was a possibility he could leave. That offer put him in a difficult position. You hear three for $27 million -- it was basically not a raise. It was something that really changed his feelings about Boston." -Scott Boras

'86 WAS A HEEP OF TROUBLE

In 1986 Danny Heep became the first player in a World Series to be a designated hitter (DH) with the initials "D.H."

THAT'S SPELLED S-O-X

In the four major US professional sports, (Baseball, Basketball, Football, and Hockey), there are only seven teams whose nicknames do not end with an "S:" Basketball: The Miami Heat, The Utah Jazz, The Orlando Magic. Baseball: The Boston Red Sox, The Chicago White Sox. Hockey: The Colorado Avalanche, The Tampa Bay Lightning. Football: None.